Image Gallery

Rhys Cooper "Femme Fatale" @ Spoke Art, SF

This Saturday, May 31st, Spoke Art will present Femme Fatale, the debut solo from Australian based screen-print artist Rhys Cooper. With a brand new body of work, Rhys embarks on a portrait series of influential women from the world of popular culture. His ‘femme fatales’ come from all over, from childhood stories to comic books, these women are iconic in one prolific way or another. Themes of female power and womanly authority play a large role in this new body of work and imagery of a violent nature, such as barbed thorns and ferocious winds all attribute to the fierce quality of these ladies and create a tense and seductive platform for Rhys’s figures.

Packed with immense detail and vibrant punchy colors, this series of screen prints are mostly all confined to Rhys’s signature narrow format. This preparation transforms these portraits into war-like banners, especially considering their aggressive aesthetic. With their bold illustrative nature and dark motifs, Rhys transforms the ideological social constructs of femininity and creates a spectacular twist on female heroines, leaving the viewer both a bit terrified and intrigued.

Femme Fatale seeks to explore the communal social consciousness by presenting figures are both instantly recognizable yet also utterly brand new and unique. His twists on the iconic female leads of childhood takes a mature twist; delving into Rhys’s work is like entering a shadowy surreal world, akin to a fantastical nightmare with a strong female lead.

Femme Fatale opens Saturday May 31st at Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco. The artist will be in attendance.